April 24, 2015 Kansas has a newly revised revenue forecast which further lowers expectations for future general fund receipts. Take notice of three key things: 1. Revenue has fallen sharply, with no rebound in sight. The 2012 and 2013 tax cuts led to a $688 million drop (10.8 percent) in overall revenue in FY 2014, … Read More
April 15, 2015 By Gary Brunk Kansas needs an economy that works for everyone, where opportunity is available to all. To make that happen we need to restore revenues – and it needs to be done by repealing the 2012 income tax cuts instead of raising taxes on low- and moderate-income families. During the Great … Read More
April 9, 2015 Stop the talk about Kansas having a spending problem. It’s not true, and our lawmakers have just shown how false that claim is. The Senate Ways and Means Committee has passed a FY 2016 general fund budget with expenditures set at $6.478 billion and the full Senate adopted that budget. Although the … Read More
March 26, 2015 As states in our region – and around the country – use higher revenues to invest in education, Kansas’ deep tax cuts are causing our schools to fall behind. While facing a $344 million budget shortfall for the current year, Gov. Brownback announced $28 million in cuts to K-12 education. Cuts to … Read More
March 19, 2015 Kansas needs a stable, ongoing revenue stream that reasonably matches expense costs. Isn’t that logical? Income should equal expenses. It may be logical, but the governor did not propose it, and so far, legislators have shown few signs of heading in that direction. The Kansas budget is structurally out of balance. Future … Read More
March 5, 2015 February general fund revenue in Kansas was $22 million ahead of “expectations,” yet $19 million below the amount collected in February 2014. How can that be? After all, the official revenue forecast predicts that general fund revenue will grow in FY 2015, not fall back. Maybe the “expectations” need some examination. To … Read More
Feb. 18, 2015 The governor’s budget recommends significant school finance cuts for FY 2016 that would directly reduce money going to Kansas classrooms. The recent cuts that the governor imposed on the approved FY 2015 budget sets into motion some of those reductions right now. The chart below outlines the governor’s budget proposals released in … Read More
Feb. 5, 2015 Seven months into fiscal year 2015, general fund receipts remain below last year’s level. That leaves a very grim outlook for the Kansas budget. A quick review: In FY 2014 revenue dropped precipitously—$688 million down in one year. Now with FY 2015 more than half over, revenue is $65 million under the … Read More
Jan. 28, 2015 State tax cuts haven’t brought a surge in job growth – even though we were told they would be like a “shot of adrenaline” to the heart of the Kansas economy. In fact, since the tax cuts were enacted, Kansas has continued to lag behind the United States and the region in … Read More
Jan. 22, 2015 What to do? Income to the Kansas general fund has fallen so low that it no longer comes close to supporting normal, reasonable expenses, and the bank account is empty. The governor has sent the Legislature a proposed budget to address the situation, but his recommended solutions do not strike at the … Read More